The Chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs, Hon. Busayo Oluwole Oke, has called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to take bold and urgent steps to restore integrity to Nigeria’s political system by wielding its regulatory powers over political parties more effectively ahead of the 2027 General elections
He warned that the unchecked proliferation of inactive and opportunistic political platforms is fast becoming a liability to the country’s democratic progress.
In a position paper released on June 30, 2025, at Constituents engagement in Ijesa North, Osun State, Hon Oke, representing Obokun/Oriade Federal Constituency of Osun State, drew the attention to what he described as a dangerous trend in which political parties that neither field candidates nor maintain any administrative or national structure continue to exploit the party registration system for financial and political gain.
“While INEC’s role as an election management body often dominates public discourse, its equally important responsibility as the registrar and regulator of political parties has not been given the attention it deserves.
“Our democracy is under threat, not from the absence of parties, but from the abundance of parties without purpose. We are witnessing a troubling surge in political entities that are dormant during campaigns, invisible at polling units, but suddenly active in courtrooms after elections, filing petitions not to protect votes, but to extort candidates who have legitimately won,” he said.
Hon Oke, who was a one-time Chairman of the House Committee on Public Accounts, decried the emergence of what he termed an “industry of political desperadoes,” who emerge during election periods not as contenders, but as profiteers.
He said these parties, lacking any electoral footprint or genuine interest in governance, often use litigation as a tool to bargain for out-of-court settlements from victorious candidates who wish to avoid prolonged legal entanglements.
This, he said, is not only unethical but has become a major source of judicial abuse, wasting the time and resources of a court system already overburdened by tight electoral deadlines.
The consequences of this dysfunction, he argued, are far-reaching.
He cited the chaos that follows frivolous election petitions from parties that were completely absent from the ballots, noting that the judiciary is being dragged into a political theatre that has no legal or moral justification.
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“Judges and lawyers are exhausted by needless litigations. Serious disputes are forced to compete for attention with spurious cases brought by political ghosts,” he said.
Beyond the courtroom, the lawmaker expressed concern about the growing complexity of Nigeria’s ballot papers, which he described as among the most confusing in the world.
“Voters, particularly the non-literate, are often overwhelmed by the sheer number of party logos, many of which belong to unknown or inactive parties, leading to mistakes and spoiled ballots.
“Feedback from the field indicates that some voters, out of panic, voted across party lines or misidentified their preferred parties due to the cluttered ballot design,” he said.
Equally troubling, he noted, is the wasteful allocation of public funds to parties that add no value to the democratic process.
INEC, he explained, is compelled to extend logistical support and ballot space to every registered party, regardless of their level of participation or credibility.
This, he said, results in a financial drain on the country’s already strained public purse.
“We are effectively using taxpayers’ money to subsidise parties that exist only on paper,” Oke said.
He warned that this situation, if left unaddressed, will further erode public trust in the electoral process.
According to him, when voters see elections bogged down by unnecessary litigation and manipulated by political entrepreneurs, they begin to lose faith in the system’s ability to deliver credible outcomes.
“What we are witnessing is not political pluralism; it is political pollution,” he said.
To address these challenges, Oke urged INEC to immediately embark on a nationwide audit of all registered political parties to assess their compliance with constitutional requirements.
Such an audit, he said, should become an annual exercise to ensure that only viable, active, and democratically inclined parties remain on the register.
He insisted that INEC must no longer hesitate to enforce its deregistration powers as provided for in Section 225A of the Constitution, which allows it to remove parties that breach registration conditions, fail to win elections, or do not participate at all.
In addition, the lawmaker advocated for a legislative amendment to the Electoral Act that would limit the right to challenge election outcomes to parties that actually took part in the election in question.
This, he said, would reinforce the legal principle of locus standi and prevent further abuse of the judicial system by non-participating parties seeking personal gain.
Hon Oke also emphasised the need to extend monitoring responsibilities beyond election day to the life cycle of political parties. He called on civil society organisations and electoral observers to begin tracking party activity year-round, rather than focusing solely on election periods.
Furthermore, he stressed the importance of enhancing public education around the legal framework for party operation and voter awareness of credible political options.
“Freedom of association is a fundamental democratic right. But it must be exercised within the framework of the law and in service of the public good.
“Political parties should be engines of democratic representation, not tools of manipulation and merchandise,” he said.
